1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to inserter machines included in mass mailing equipment, for assembling documents into batches or into collations and then for inserting the collations into envelopes. More particularly, this invention relates to the remote control of a mail inserter machine and also to the communication to such a machine of bar codes on some mail pieces being processed by the machine.
2. Description of Related Art
In the high volume mail industry, in both U.S. First Class and Third Class mail, envelopes are filled with various letter pieces using automated (mass) mail inserter machines. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,832 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,384 disclose an in-line mail inserter machine having envelope and feeding assemblies, an envelope inserting station, a sealing and stacking assembly, and various diverter stations.
Mail inserters may run at high speeds, sometimes processing up to thousands of mail pieces per hour (in some cases, up to 18,000 pieces per hour), and state of the art mail inserters often include scanner devices that read scan codes (bar codes) on mail piece constituents (envelope and inserts) encoding an identifier for identifying the mail piece constituents to the inserter, thus making it possible for the inserter to keep track of whether mail piece constituents that have been input to the inserter have been successfully processed (i.e. that envelopes and one or more corresponding inserts have been properly combined into a single mail piece) and output by the inserter.
More specifically, to produce mailings where the content of each mail piece varies, the inputs to an inserter are computer-generated and printed documents, with each document containing information intended for a particular addressee. The documents may originate from a stack of cut sheets or from a web of forms. It is the function of the inserter to accept the documents and produce the individual mailings that correspond to each document. To accomplish this, as shown in FIG. 1, the typical prior art inserter 10 includes a variety of modules for performing different tasks on the documents passing through the inserter. Typical modules are: various web handling modules 10a (slitters, cutters and bursters) for separating the continuous forms into singular or discrete documents, a sheet feeder module 10b for feeding individual cut sheets, an accumulator module 10c for assembling the sheets and/or form documents into a collation, a folder module 10d for folding the collation into a desired configuration, a conveyor/staging module 10e for transporting and queuing the collation, one or more enclosure feeder modules 10f for assembling and adding packets of enclosures to the collation, an inserting station module 10g for inserting the collation into an envelope, and a controller 10h to synchronize the operation of the overall inserter 10 to ensure that the collations are properly assembled. Examples of such inserter systems are the 8 Series™ and 9 Series™ inserter systems available from Pitney Bowes, Inc., with headquarters in Stamford, Conn.
Typically, information for control of such an inserter is read from a control document by a scanner associated with or included with the most upstream module in the inserter, such as the conveyor/staging module 10e (FIG. 1). The control document is generally an address bearing document and contains information specific to a particular addressee. Additionally, each control document contains control information for instructing the downstream modules on how to assemble a particular mail piece. Once scanned by the inserter as the control document enters the inserter, the control information is transmitted to the controller; the controller then monitors the processing of the collation through each module. Generally, the control document includes a barcode type control code or other machine-readable markings defining the number of forms or sheets to be accumulated into the collation, the number of enclosures from each of the enclosure feeder modules to be assembled to the collation, and information for other purposes, such as the selection of appropriate postage.
Operation at the high speeds used in state of the art inserters occasionally results in damage to mail pieces. Sometimes a mail piece can be damaged and jam the inserter or otherwise cause the inserter to stop, and sometimes a mail piece can be damaged but the machine continues processing mail pieces.
State of the art mail inserters often include features that detect when a mail piece has been possibly damaged even when the machine is not jammed; such machines typically divert such suspect mail pieces (usually at the stage where the envelope and inserts have been joined to form a completed mailpiece) to a bin 10k (FIG. 1) to be examined by an operator. The operator manually inspects each mail piece diverted to the bin and decides whether the mail piece should be reprinted or not. In directing a mail piece to the bin for manual inspection, a state of the art inserter typically enters the identifier (from the scan code) of the mail piece in a database 10m of suspect mailpieces. The operator then, after inspection of the mail piece, uses a scanner 10j (FIG. 1), separate and distinct from the remote control 10i, to pick up the identifier of the mail piece and to communicate it to the controller 10h along with an indication that the mail piece needs to be reprinted or is instead acceptable so that it need not be reprinted and can be removed from the database.
In case of jamming or in case of the inserter otherwise being caused to stop, state of the art mail inserters use the bar code identifiers to determine what mailpieces are affected and so possibly damaged. As in case of possibly damaged mailpieces being diverted to a bin for manual inspection, when an inserter is interrupted an operator will also typically manually inspect affected mailpieces and communicate the status of such mailpieces to the inserter using the scanner 10j to read the identifier of the affected mailpieces.
To maintain control of an inserter such as an inserter of the type illustrated in FIG. 1, an operator typically uses a (wireless) remote control 10i to communicate with the controller 10h (and may also communicate directly with the controller using an interface provided as part of the controller). The operator keeps such a remote control at hand whenever the inserter is in operation. As mentioned, for reading scan codes of suspect mailpieces, the operator uses a scanner 10j separate and distinct from the remote control. Often, the scanner device 10j is such as to have to be wired to the inserter controller 10h for communicating scan codes of mailpieces examined and then scanned by the operator.
It would be advantageous to have a device including as a single preferably wireless unit the capabilities of both a remote control (for starting and stopping an inserter, among other functions related to the operation of the inserter) as well as a scanner.